Immediately following his stunning upset of Seth Mitchell,
heavyweight Johnathon Banks told Maxboxing, “they say if you give a man a fish
you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.Emanuel Stewart fed me for a lifetime
teaching me the sport of boxing.I love
him and I miss him.”

Jonathan Banks dropped formerly undefeated Seth Mitchell
three times en route to a technical knockout at 2:37 of the second round.The trouble started after a Mitchell right
to the body seemed to have stunned Banks.Banks responded with a sharp straight right that momentarily staggered
the former Michigan State linebacker.Mitchell held on, but Banks again landed a hard right hand sending
Mitchell to the canvas for the first time his 27-fight career.

Although not quite recovered, Mitchell engaged Banks in a
toe-to-toe brawl before Banks’ right hand again found its mark on Mitchell’s
chin, and Mitchell went down for a second time and was in obvious and serious
trouble.Following the eight count by
referee Eddie Cotton, Mitchell was desperate to survive the second round.However, Banks realized his opportunity to
score the upset and again pounced on the still dazed Mitchell dropping him for
the third time and forcing Cotton to call a halt to the bout.

Banks also told Maxboxing that the right to the body that
Mitchell landed didn’t hurt as much as he made it look but knew from his
studying Mitchell in previous fights that coming forward Mitchell had a
tendency to leave himself open for well-aimed straight right hands.

Mitchell began the fight with a much more measured pace than
we have been used to in previous fights.He looked to establish his left jab and was patient with his right
hand.Mitchell did land enough punches
to win the round and landed one right to Banks’ head as Banks was crouching
that seemed to momentarily stun the Detroit native.

Immediately following the loss, Mitchell admitted to
Maxboxing that he had made a mistake throwing a lunging punch at the smaller
Banks following the right to the body.Despite the knock out, Mitchell said he was fine and plans to continue
his career despite the setback.

Despite giving up over 22 pounds to Mitchell, Banks
improved to 29-1-1 with his 19th knockout and now must be considered
a legitimate contender among the sports most glamorous division.